The present invention relates to a printer. More particularly, the invention provides a printer having a plurality of printheads configured to simultaneously deposit ink onto a sheet of media.
In contrast to other types of printers, inkjet printers provide fast, high resolution, black-and-white and color printing on a wide variety of media, and at a relatively low cost. As a result, inkjet printers have become one of the most popular types of printers for both consumer and business applications.
Inkjet printers deposit ink onto a sheet of media by ejecting tiny drops of ink from a printhead. The inkjet printhead includes a plurality of ink ejection mechanisms, essentially tiny nozzles, arranged in an array. A typical printhead is capable of printing a horizontal strip about xc2xd inch high across a sheet of media in a single pass over the sheet before the sheet is advanced for the next horizontal pass. This process continues until the sheet of media has been completely printed.
The rate at which the printer can print is generally a function of how fast the printhead can make each horizontal printing pass. While current inkjet printers print at high rates of speed relative to older inkjet printers, the speed of inkjet printers remains somewhat slower than that of comparable laser printers.
One cause of the relatively slower print rates of inkjet printers is the limited frequency at which the individual ink ejection mechanisms in the printhead can eject ink bubbles, typically around 12 KHz. Increasing the printhead movement speed may speed up printing, but also may unacceptably lighten or blur the resulting print on the sheet of media. Also, the size of the printhead may be increased to increase the width of the swath printed by each pass of the printhead. However, this may greatly increase the cost of the printhead. Thus, there remains a need for an inkjet printer with increased printing speed and efficiency.
The present invention provides a printer comprising a body, a printhead assembly disposed at least partially within the body, and a media advance system disposed within the body for advancing a sheet of media within the printer. The printhead assembly includes a first printhead and a second printhead, the first and second printheads being configured to simultaneously deposit ink on a sheet of media positioned adjacent the printhead assembly and to move across the sheet of media in an opposed manner relative to one another during printing.